


Mirrorball

by axolotlnerd-campcamp (axolotlNerd)



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mirrorball AU, NOT MAXVID, Post-Apocalypse, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 10:59:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13500450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axolotlNerd/pseuds/axolotlnerd-campcamp
Summary: Life in the nameless scientific facility Max woke up in has been the same since before anyone can remember. He is surrounded by people who call him by a set of numbers, telling him only one thing - comply.But he remembers life before the facility. He can remember the green trees and blue skies and asks himself, what happened?So Max sets out on a journey to find out the truth. Why did he wake up in this mysterious white building? Who is the person from his memories, calling out to him? What really did happen Outside?





	1. Prologue - Exordium

The room he sat in was quiet, soundless except for the rumbling of the ventilation systems above him. Eerily they whirled, deep and empty tones filling the space that he resided in. The lights had shut off, as well. He had been still for so long that the motion sensors in the room thought he had left, and now the room was left to it’s darkness.

_ He should be here by now, _ the man thought, his own voice filling his head as he stared at the papers in front of him. Though the room had gone dark, a small spot of sunlight streamed in through a window, lighting up the room just enough for him to read the loose papers he had pulled from a folder labeled  _ 4418. _

Yesterday’s report had nothing abnormal, but still something stirred in his stomach. For no reason in particular, none that he could pinpoint at least, he felt the beginnings of something bad in his gut, pulling itself up and filling his lungs.

This feeling may be the abnormality he had been sensing. Maybe something inside of him was changing.  _ Old age may finally be catching up to me, _ he thought.

A soft knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts. At the sound, he took a deep breath in and pushed his chair away from the desk, swivelling around. The movement was enough to trigger the lights flickering back on.

“Come in.” He said, his voice relaxed but still controlled. The door squeaked as it opened, and as miniscule as a detail it was, the man still noticed it.  _ Note to self: fix that damned door. _

The man who walked in was not truly a man, for he still had the face of a boy. Though he had a man’s job and wore a man’s clothes, something inside of him never changed when he had turned eighteen and began to be regarded as an adult. He had a round and soft face like a baby’s, and hair that had not been cute it quite some time. It grew in it’s tawny shade to his shoulders, soft and feathered with a streak of bleach blonde. His pale skin grew rosy at his cheeks, and he seemed to be out of breath.

“Aaron, it’s been a while. You’re giving report tonight?” The man asked, his cobalt blue eyes taking in every detail of the boy before him. Aaron took in a shaky breath.

“Yes, sir. But, um, first I would-” He cut himself off, trying to tame his nervousness. This was a red flag to the man in his seat; he knew Aaron well, and this was extremely out of character for him.

“What is it? Did something go wrong?” The man immediately thought of 4418, concerned for the state of the experiment. This facility, and the experiments within it, were extremely dangerous. Even one mistake could be fatal to everyone involved.

“Yes. I mean, no, sir. I-” Aaron stuttered.

“Spit it out.” The man demanded, glaring at the boy standing by the doorway. He breathed in one last shaky breath before finally finding the words.

“Mr. Campbell, we had to grab 4401 from Outside today.”

There was a long beat of silence, Campbell’s eyes bearing into Aaron’s nervous brown hues. Something about the older man was more than just intimidating - in the right light, he could be downright terrifying.

Then, for no reason Aaron could pinpoint, Campbell let out a hearty, guttural laugh. The younger boy looked up at the man, stunned. “You should have seen your face!” Campbell roared. “You had me all worked up over nothing. Of course, you caught him before he got too far, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about. You are chief discipline officer now, it’s your job to dish out it’s punishment.”

As Campbell finished his sentence he stood up. The light of the white room bounced off of his sky blue eyes, glinting like snow in the sunlight. He was full bodied and muscular, but as if to wear his money, he wore a full velvet suit with a black tie tucked underneath his vest. Gray hair was neatly kempt, and in some places you could almost see where it would have been brown if he was just a bit younger.

His lips curled into a smile as he spoke. “I assure you, Aaron,” the boy looked up at his boss, unsure of what to believe as he heard the older man’s words. “Everything is going according to plan.”


	2. Act I - Lamented

The first day was the worst. You can imagine it would be, waking up with so little memories of who you are, what body you’re in.

There was the noise of something hissing, pressurized air being released into the world. He felt his head throbbing at the noise, and the back of his eyes hurt from the change of lighting. He couldn’t register much from how much his mind had fogged overnight, but a single word found itself embedded in his head.

_Max._

He did not know what this word meant, or why it sounded so familiar, but he latched onto it like a baby holds it’s blanket.

The room he was in was all white, bright lights illuminating it like it was a hospital room. The whole room was barren, white floors that turned into white walls that turned into a white ceiling high above his head. The only obscurity was a fraction of the wall up towards the ceiling that looked thin and reflected shadows, as if the wall was made of paper and people watched from behind it.

He held onto this word again, repeating it in his head over and over again, hoping to find some comfort in it. He could not remember much of anything except for this word, this one strange word that seemed to fit like a puzzle piece in the perfect spot.

He turned, scanning the walls of the room for something out of the ordinary, anything he could even remotely recognise. But when he looked around, it was all the same. Even the bed he was on matched the whiteness of the room, though it could hardly qualify as a bed. It felt like someone had lazily had thrown a few pillows onto a cold metal floor and wrapped them together in a blanket. In fact, from what little blanket the boy could grab, it seemed as though someone had done exactly that.

Slowly and cautiously, he pulled himself up, observing the bed. Thick metal panels rose up from the side of the makeshift bed, and on the outer side of them, buttons littered it. A glass panel had shifted at some point and was now curved on the side of the bed, ready to shift back to the top and close it like it was a time capsule.

The boy jumped out of the bed, landing on the whiteness of the room’s floor. His white sneakers that matched his mostly white outfit squeaked against the white tile, a bitter reminded that this was a colorful abnormality among the white sameness that surrounded this boy.

He turned, and faintly he could see his reflection in the glass panel that had once sealed his makeshift bed shut.

He had been telling himself that he felt different, that the world felt different, but this went deeper than what he felt. The body that he now resided in was so excruciatingly foreign that he shuddered at himself. He was not used to the sunshade tone of his skin, and his vivid blue-green eyes only unsettled him. He ran a hand through his mess of black curls, which felt like they hadn’t been cleaned in weeks.

So, so much had changed.

Sounds rang out in the distance, hissing the same way he had heard earlier. Metal banged against metal, and though the noise was muffled by the walls of his room, it still terrified the boy.

He turned, frantically trying to back away from the noise. He jumped when his back hit a wall, but it was simply the farthest he could get from the noise, so he resigned into curling into himself, hugging his foreign body in the hopes that it could provide some comfort at all.

_Max._

There it was again - that strange, familiar word. He said it once, feeling the way the word curled on his lips, off of his tongue. How strange it was, to feel like a word could make this whole strange situation better. Of course, he knew it wouldn’t, but still he said it again.

Machines whirred, air hissed, the shadows high above the boy’s head moved around him, and suddenly everything else was too, the ground beneath him was falling apart and he could do nothing to stop it. His skin crawled and his whole body felt tight, he couldn’t stop shaking and the noises wouldn’t stop and-

 

He just couldn’t breathe.

 

_“Max.”_

_The voice reached out to him again, and this time he connected a feeling to it. He looked up, and there stood a young girl. She wore a bomber jacket a size too big, and had wild hair that seemed familiar._

_He knew this word. And he knew this girl. She reached out to him, offering her hand, but he didn’t do anything. She looked at him for a second, then smiled, pulling away and turning towards a window._

_With that movement, the scene became clear. They were in a room, and the walls were white but not the same white they were before. The walls were bare but they were flawed in ways that the boy liked much more, paint picked off and tack holes scattered around._

_The boy, feeling less like a boy and much smaller, looked out the window the girl stared through. This outside was all he wanted - blue skies and white, fluffy clouds, trees that rustled in the wind as their leaves fell off, red and brown and brittle._

_“Hey, Max.” The girl said again, looking at him._

_He didn’t know much, but he knew that this word was important. More than that, it was his - this word was made for him and nobody else._

_His name was Max._

 

Nothing had changed when he woke up, but to him it was all different. It was a simple dream, but now when he looked at the way things were now he felt enraged because this wasn’t right. That last place felt like home. This felt like torture, and he knew he did not belong here.

So he stood up, fury in his turquoise eyes as he paced the room. He ran a hand along the wall, trying to find any imperfections in it’s making. After one lap of finding nothing, he paced around again, nails digging into the plaster. But this wall was designed to contain him, designed to keep him in and keep everything else out.

He didn’t know much, but he knew he wanted out. So he began scratching at the walls, trying to make any dent on the perfect surface that bound him here. His nails broke, leaving just sharp and bent parts of his nail bed, and eventually it hurt too much to keep trying. So he stopped that and began to kick the wall, hoping to get a hole in the surface anywhere.

Air hissed suddenly, louder than Max had ever heard it before. He jumped, backing up to the wall again, but he refused to let himself panic like last time.

Two panels separated themselves from the wall, pulling out of the room then sliding apart. The mechanisms that powered the moving doors whirred, trying to get used to being used once again. _How did I not notice?_ Max asked himself. He had run his hand over that spot at least twice, and felt no indication that the wall could open there.

A woman entered, heels clicking on the cold floor. She wan tall, much taller than Max, and wore a white pencil skirt and white t-shirt with a lab coat on top. In her pale hands, she held a clipboard and pen. Max met her gaze, looking at her sparkling blue eyes and thin lips turned into a friendly smile. Freckles dotted her cheeks, and her pink curls were held in a loose bun on her head.

“Hello, there.” She said. Her voice was like a siren’s - friendly and formal, beckoning trust as it twanged with a southern accent. Max found this more alarming than alluring, finding an immediate distrust for this stranger. “I bet you’d like some explanation, right?”

Max said nothing. He just loosened his stance, as the room was now quiet and no machines were whirring. The woman stared at the boy in front of her, confused at his silent stance but not letting it show.

“I’ll take that as a yes, if that’s okay with you. I’m Wynslow, and I’ll be one of the folks training you to be a member of our wonderful civilization. You are in one of the facilities of the Society of Neurological Health and Reformation. You are here because, after an incident, your brain was damaged. We fixed you up, though!”

This was too obviously rehearsed. Max didn’t believe a word from this woman who called herself Wynslow, and he just glared at her.

“Well, you’re going to have to go through some training. First it’ll just to be sure that your head and body are working properly, then we’ll be teaching etiquette and expectations so you’ll be able to join society once again. You will be responding to the code ‘4418’, or just ‘418’ for short. Understand?”

Wynslow waited patiently for a sign that the kid in front of her understood what she had been saying. _Perhaps something went wrong during the surgery? Or maybe he didn’t speak English? Maybe-_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the kid speaking. They were just a few simple words, and no one knew how important this small rebellion was or ever would be.

“My name is Max. Not 4418.”

Wynslow was too stunned by the response to reply properly. She was simply not prepared for this response, nor did she ever think she would have to be.

“I understand. Well, the next time these doors open, you’ll be meeting others like you, 4418.” Max glared intently at her, and inside, Wynslow grimaced. “Also, don’t go scratching the walls like that. You’ll just hurt yourself. Have a good evening.”

And with that, Wynslow turned on her heel, leaving the room. Behind her, air hissed and machines whirred, the door closing and creating a perfect seal behind her.

And Max was left to his white room, left with nothing but his name and the imperfection of the wall behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my sci-fi Camp Camp AU, Mirrorball! I just wanted to thank you right now for being here and reading this. This story has been in the works for a long time and, after literal months of planning, I finally can show off the first two chapters!
> 
> I know a lot of people probably aren't going to read this, which sucks. But, if you can, I'd really like it if you could support my writing and this story just by leaving a comment or sharing it with a friend. If you have Tumblr, I have a post linking to this story on my Camp Camp side blog, at more-camp-camp-fic-please.tumblr.com. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you like where this story goes in the future!


	3. Bellicose

Violet eyes watched the child pace the walls of his room, trying to find a way to pass the time. The pristine walls and fluorescent lights offered nothing to keep the clock moving, and it made the wait for tomorrow unbearable. The scientist could see it, and felt the same way.

She was not very experienced as a scientist, and unlike the others in the building, had not detached herself from her work. She stared through the one-way window in front of her as she leaned on the table that separated her from it, just wondering what it looked like from the other side. She didn’t know that Max could see her unfamiliar silhouette, or the way she shifted her weight as she continued to watch him.

Being so high above the ground of his cage made her wonder what he thought of them. She knew the windows weren’t perfect, and from the way he looked at the thin wall separating them, she knew he must have some idea they were there.  _ Maybe he thinks we’re angels, _ she thought and laughed.  _ Strangest angels I ever heard of, that’s for sure. _

She shifted her stance again, moving to touch the strands of dark auburn hair that had escaped her ponytail. She pulled out a few more to frame her face, looking at her reflection in the window. She always felt like she looked pale in the white lights of her workplace, making her look sick in comparison to the lively tawny tone she had in the sun.

All she could hope for was that soon, things would change.

“Should I tell Campbell your head is in the clouds again?” A friendly voice pulled the violet-eyed woman out of her reverie. He was a tall and lanky man with a wild mane of dark curls, unable to be tamed. His brown eyes were mirthful, just like the smile on his face. Like every other scientist in the building, he wore white clothes with a white lab coat, and carried his clipboard full of papers everywhere.

“Sorry, Isaac. I’m just…” She looked back into the room, at the kid who still paced the edges of his room. “I don’t know. Everywhere, I guess.”

Isaac shrugged. “I know what you mean. Just don’t get caught by anyone else.” The thin man sat down on the table, propping his clipboard against his arm. “Report?”

“Oh! Yes, I have it here…” The woman reached to pick up her own notes, flipping through them and skimming them quickly. “So, he woke up at approximately 11:53-”

“He?” Isaac prompted, and the woman simply nodded her head to confirm. “Gwen, you know-”

“I do. I  _ do _ know.” Gwen interrupted. 

“I just don’t want to see you getting in trouble. Campbell’s gonna rip you a new one if he hears you talking like that.” Isaac eyed Gwen with concern, but the woman didn’t seem bothered.  _ I’m already in trouble, _ she thought.

“That’s my problem, not yours. Don’t worry about me, okay?” With that, Isaac sighed and turned back to his papers, prompting Gwen to continue with her report. “Anyways, he woke up at approximately 11:53 AM, and when the doors opened at 12, he had a panic attack and passed out. He woke up about eighteen minutes later, and began pacing the room.”

“Anxiously?”

“Angrily.” Gwen corrected. “Wynslow wrote that he was scratching at the walls, trying to get out. She had to go down and stop him before he hurt himself.” Gwen read over the rest of the paper, seeing a small note apart from the report.

_ Someone fucked up the surgery. It remembers it’s name. _

She stared at the note for a long time, trying to process the information. Of course, the other subjects had named themselves, but none of them had  _ remembered _ their names. None of them had remembered anything if they were speaking truthfully to the scientists. 

“Gwen?” Isaac prompted, curious to see where her mind had gone. Gwen looked to him, scanning his concern and hiding any trace of joy or relief as she spoke.

“He remembered his name.”

 

Max started kicking the walls at some point. He had made a dent yesterday - he figured if he tried hard enough, he could break through. Then, he could use pieces of drywall to throw at the shadows that lurked above him. Either that, or someone would come down to stop him eventually, and he could try to escape. 

Neither had happened yet. All he had done was tire himself out a multiple times over the course of a day, waiting for something to happen. Namely, food. His stomach kept twisting in on itself, and it frustrated the kid to no end.

The sound of pressurized air hissing alerted Max to the panel that separated itself from the wall. He could tell from the sound this wasn’t the only one, and it sent his skin crawling as the noise surrounded him. He was silent as he waited for it to stop.

When it did, a wave of stale and overused air hit his face. He sneered at the feeling, wondering where the fresh air that mingled with his memories went. He looked out of his door, around the room.

It was a wide circle, with another ceiling going high above Max’s head. The fluorescent lights were just as bright, keeping the white walls glowing with their reflection. Around him, a group of people emerged from different doors around the room, thin lights matching the colors of the accents on their white clothing.

There were about five people there, and though Max could have described them, there was too much that was new for him to pay much attention. Most of them noticed him, but let him be. Others acted oblivious, and one tried to run over to the kid but was stopped by another kid her age.

Out of all the people there, one stood out from the rest. He was an adult, tall and lanky compared to all of the children in the large room. Wavy red hair moved in a fauxhawk on his head, keeping the fringe out of his rosy face littered with freckles. Unlike the only other adult Max had seen recently, he wore the same uniform Max and the other kids did, accented with a green that matched his eyes as they scanned over the room.

The man saw Max, a small presence in the large room, and was surprised to see a new face. He smiled, approaching the new kid.

Kneeling down to Max’s level, he looked happy. Something strange and out of place in the blank building. “Hi!” He started, cheerily. “I’m David. I didn’t think someone new would be getting here so soon!”

Max eyed him warily. Surely this was one of the people from the silhouettes in his room?

“I know you’re new here, and this is probably a bit overwhelming, but you don’t mind if I ask you a few questions, do you?” David asked.

Max shook his head, letting David continue on.

“Have any of the scientists talked to you? To explain or anything?” 

“Yeah,” Max said, thinking back to Wynslow. David had a strange type of similarity to the woman, the same friendliness turned into something more genuine. Mistrust still stood tall in the kid as David continued talking.

“Oh, good! Well, I know that they probably told you your identification number, but-” Max cut off the redhead crouched in front of him.

“My name is Max.” He said sternly. The idea of being called a number made him nauseous, or at the very least would if he wasn’t starving.

David seemed caught off guard by Max’s stern comment. The already made list of questions in his head were thrown aside at the statement, He looked at the kid with confusion for a moment, watching him speak again.

“My name is  _ Max. _ Not a bunch of numbers.”

David’s green eyes sparkled with curiosity. “You mean you  _ remembered _ your name?” He said with wonder in his voice. Max eyed him, trying to find any hint of malice in the optimistic man’s gaze. Instead, he found a look of wonder and amazement of his freckled face.

“You didn’t?” Max asked, now curious himself.

David shook his head. “No, none of us have remembered anything since we woke up here.”

_ Us. _ Max looked around the room at the other people who roamed around, watching the way they looked at him, or tried not to.

“I can introduce you to the people here, if you want! I understand this is all new to you, so if you’d rather not, that’s perfectly fine.” David explained, and Max barely listened. Instead, he was looking at the others in the room, scanning for every little detail: the way the teenage girl leaned against the white walls, blonde hair tucked over her shoulder; the way the little green-haired girl kept looking over at Max and David, and the way the boy next to her talked to her and kept her from leaping over to him; the way another girl, thin and lanky with dark skin, eyed the main door with worry in her eyes.

David did the same. When Max hadn’t replied to him, he began to stare at the main door, a large panel of the wall outlined with more white lights. 

“Why are you doing that?” Max asked the adult next to him. David looked over at him and smiled unenthusiastically. 

“Well, we… There was another kid here. He went out a couple days ago, and we haven’t heard anything from him since. I’m sure he’s fine, but I still worry.” The ginger explained.

“You’re allowed to do that?” Max asked. 

David put a hand on the back of his neck fretfully. “That’s the thing. You’re not.” 

Max did nothing in reply except look at the door with him, trying to search for something to say or do until his stomach twisted and growled again.

“When do we get food?” He asked.

“Oh!” David seemed glad to be distracted from his worries. “Don’t worry, it’ll be soon. Right before training!”

“Training?” The word made Max’s stomach twist again, but more out of fear than hunger.

“Yeah, we-” David was cut off by the doors opening once again, hydraulic whirring and ratcheting replacing all of the noise in the room. “You’ll find out soon enough. Head back to your room, and I’ll introduce you to everyone tomorrow!”

With that, David ran back to the room he came from, and Max held his breath as the doors finished opening. Everyone returned back to the rooms they came from, panels returning back into place on queue. Max watched everyone as the doors slid back into place flawlessly, creating more lonely white walls.

Quietly, he returned to his room, waiting for the door to click behind him before letting out a frustrated groan, kicking the walls again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, this story is NOT dead! And I don't plan on it being any time soon! It took a while for a couple of reasons (I finished my Dadvid Big Bang story "A Good Winter", started another story, have been working on other projects as well including a Gwenvid fic that is also getting an update today), but it doesn't matter. I have a couple chapters of this stocked up, but they're still going through some minor editing so they might not be out for a week or two.
> 
> But I do have some good news! There's only one more week until school is OVER for me! For the summer, at least. The main reason I haven't been posting as much as I wish I could is because of school, but once it's over I'll have so much time I won't know what to do with myself! So writing it is!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this story so far. Mirrorball has been an idea I've been developing for multiple years now, ever since I first started writing back in the fall of 2016. Getting the first two chapters written and posted was an extreme difficulty for me; I'm always scared to post things that deviate so far from the canon, as I'm scared not many people will be interested or like it. So seeing positive response thus far has been so, so encouraging. To everyone who's read this so far, thank you so much for all of your support, and I really hope you enjoy this story!


	4. Equanimity

It wasn’t long that Max had to wait for something to happen, but it felt like an eternity. The shadows behind the wall had disappeared, off to somewhere else where they could watch something else. The wall had not been dented any further over the time Max had spent to kick at it unenthusiastically, and the sturdiness of it made time drag on.

Soon, but not soon enough, there was the unfortunately familiar hissing of air as the door opened again. Max turned to the door, wondering why it would be opening so soon after the meeting time?

A familiar woman entered the room, heels clicking on the floor. Her ruby pink hair was tucked into a bun once again, much tighter than before as her pale blue eyes looked over to Max. The kid just glared at her, waiting for her to speak.

“Good morning, 4418.” She said with her overly bright smile, and Max scowled. She sounded so robotic; it put a twist in his gut to listen to her. “You seem happy to see me. I take it you remember our last meeting?”

Max stood still for a moment, then nodded silently.

“I think you’ll be happy to meet one of my associates today.” As if on queue, another woman entered the room, wearing the same outfit as Wynslow with a clipboard in her hands. “This is Ms. Gwen Martinez. She’s one of the scientists here, and will be helping supervise your training.”

Gwen’s violet eyes looked over Max, searching for something as she shifted her step, seeming nervous to be here. Wynslow put a hand on the woman’s shoulder, her same smile painting her face. “Please, excuse my partner’s nervousness. This is her first time assisting me with this task.”

Gwen only seemed more nervous with Wynslow’s hand on her shoulder. Max noticed this, but made no remarks.

“Please, follow us.” The pink haired woman said, turning on her heel. Gwen watched as Max stood still, not saying anything for a moment. Just keeping her hands over her clipboard.

Wynslow kept walking out of the room for a long moment, not turning to look back at Gwen and Max. The latina woman knelt down, and for the first time, spoke to Max.

“Hey, kid.” She said, her voice calm. “I know you don’t want to do this, but it’ll be a lot easier for all of us if you just do what she says. Just for now, okay?” 

The difference between the Gwen talked to him and the way Wynslow did was at stark as the walls around him. She looked into his eyes, level with him with how she knelt down. She, unlike Wynslow, treated him like a person. Not another experiment.

Max silently began to follow the scientists, resenting the movement but synchronizing all the same.

 

The main room was completely empty and silent, and it felt foreign to the room he had been stuck in not that long ago. There were only two doors open this time — Max’s, and the main hall.

Part of Max called to make a mad dash. If he could get through that door fast enough, maybe he could find a way out before he got caught. Maybe if he was quick enough, he could get outside, to the warm breeze he remembered so well.

But he stayed in place, simply following Gwen and Wynslow. If he was patient, he figured, he could make a real plan to get out of here.

The hallways were not at all reminiscent of what he remembered of trails through the woods, winding around trees and signs pointing to the nearest hospital. These corridors were wide and straight, no signs to lead you anywhere. Wynslow and Gwen seemed to know where they were going, but it must have been their memory that led them from hall to hall.

Eventually, Wynslow stopped in front of a wall, and right on queue, a panel slid out from the wall, revealing a new room. It was the biggest one Max had seen yet, another room stained with white lights and fluorescent hypnosis. The floor was all the same, separated into more panels as if it were made to move.

Wynslow entered the room, and Max trailed behind. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he was curious as to what was about to happen.

The door shut behind Gwen, and Wynslow turned to Max. “If I’m not mistaken,” She began. “I’ve already explained why we do this training, yes?”

Max nodded and looked at Gwen, who took a deep breath as she tried to rid herself of her nervousness.

“Great! Today, we’ll be doing an assessment of your physical abilities, and making sure your head injury isn’t going to cause you any problems with mobility. Does that sound good?”

She looked down at Max, her pale blue eyes scanning him questioningly. The kid just glared at her.

“I’m not doing anything until I get food.” He said adamantly. Wynslow paused for a moment, taking the time to formulate her sentence.

“I’m afraid that-”

“If I may interrupt,” Gwen warned in the most professional voice she could manage. “I believe 4418’s results will be much more accurate if we feed him first. Unless you need to be reminded why I was assigned to assist you?”

Wynslow’s smile faltered for a moment, resentment shining through the movement. “Right. I will be back in a moment with  _ it’s _ food.” The pink haired woman said, walking toward the door that opened on queue. “I think it would be worth it to mention that I am not the only imperfect person in this room, Gwen. Careful with what you say while I’m gone.”

With that, Wynslow left the room, and the door hissed shut behind her. The room was quiet for a long moment, Gwen staring at the closed door and thinking while Max tried to evaluate the situation.

“What was  _ that _ about?” He contended. Gwen looked to him and scanned him once again before taking a deep breath and sitting down.

“Stuff that happened before you woke up. Listen, before she comes back, I need to tell you something.” Her violet eyes were level with Max’s vibrant teal, full of anxiety as she confessed. “You’ve probably already picked up on this, but something is really bad here. When we were fixing up that head injury, or whatever they told you it was, I did something and if any of the other people here find out, I…” 

She trailed off, her anxiety filling her throat and making her pause. Max looked at her with confusion, overwhelmed by all of the information he had to take in.

“You remember something, right?” Gwen asked, a small spark of hope in her chest.

“Yeah,” Max said. “Why?”

“No one else does. I mean, me and Wynslow and the other doctors and adults here do, but you’re… Special, I guess. Either way, you have to find a way out of here. I know it’s a lot to ask, and you’re just a kid, but…” Gwen trailed off for a moment and took a deep breath, composing herself once again. “Those other people that you saw earlier, they don’t have the memories you do. This is all they know. They don’t know if there’s any reason they should risk trying to escape. That’s why you have to.”

Max was silent for a long moment. He looked over Gwen, trying to find her motive for all of this. Clearly she was scared about getting in trouble for what she did, whatever it was. Why would she do it if it was for someone else’s escape?

“Why are  _ you _ helping us? You can just leave. You already know what it’s like out there, why not?” He asked.

Gwen smiled a small bit, bitterly and sorrowfully. “I honestly just can’t stand to see you all like this. You did nothing to deserve being trapped here.” She explained, and stood up. “I’ll do everything I can to help get you out of here. You just be you. That’ll get you wherever you need to go, I’m sure.” Her smile was a touch more genuine, more out of amusement than sorrow.

Max opened his mouth to speak, but as he did, the door hissed open once again. Wynslow stood in the doorway, holding a small wooden crate in her arms as she smiled brightly.

“I brought enough for everyone!”

 

Max had no memories of food, but the sweet fruits that Wynslow had brought were more than enough. With the first bite, the cramping of his stomach stopped, weaving itself into a craving for sugar.

Gwen had peeled an orange and was holding a slice of it in her mouth as she wrote on her clipboard, occasionally glancing at Max and Wynslow. It was quiet, neither of the scientists having anything to say with the other around. 

Max had no idea what to think of the whole situation. Above all else, he wanted answers; What had Wynslow done to need Gwen to watch over training? What did Gwen do to make her so anxious about getting in trouble? Why could he remember the outside world? 

It was strange to wish you could go home when you couldn’t even fully remember what it was like.

Wynslow eventually stood up, and with her too-bright smile, spoke. “Alright! It’s about time we get to training. What do you say?”

Max huffed, partially out of dislike for the pink haired scientist, and mostly out of the fact he wanted to keep eating. Despite that, he put his mostly finished apple into the now empty wooden crate, and stood up. “What are we even doing?” He asked callously. 

“A physical assessment.” Wynslow simplified as she began to walk to the other side of the room, quite a distance away from where Max stood.

“So I’m just gonna run around in circles and you’re gonna grade me?” He asked, and Wynslow laughed.

“Not quite. First, we need to make sure you’re firing on all cylinders. When I give the word, I’d like it if you could just walk over here.” She stood directly across from Max now, turning to the watch on her arm that Max hadn’t noticed yet.

“Just walk?”

Wynslow reaffirmed with a happy “Yes!”, then turned to write on her clipboard. After a moment of silence, she spoke again. “Go.” 

With that, Max ran full speed, sprinting across the length of the room and stopping himself against the wall next to Wynslow. The woman eyed him curiously, and at seeing the energetic look in his eye, spoke again.

“Should I assume that was too easy for you?” She asked, her smile faltering for a moment. Max shrugged.

“Sure. Or maybe I just don’t like you.” He sneered. Wynslow put a hand on her chin, thinking for a moment. Max’s gut twisted, not because of hunger but with the way she looked at him, a hint of malice in her ice cold eyes. 

She took a few steps back, moving to the middle of one of the seperated panels on the floor. “It occurs to me you don’t quite know what this room is capable of.” She said, and lifted her watch closer to her face. With the press of a button, she spoke. “Isaac, could you give me a lift?”

A muffled voice came out of the watch before the panel in the floor began to hiss, lifting Wynslow high into the air. Max quickly backed away from the rising pillar, taken aback by the sudden movement. Gwen, who still sat on the other side of the room, watched with caution.

The panels around the one Wynslow stood on began to rise as well, and Max backed away as they formed a staircase for her to gracefully step down. When she had made it back down, she looked Max in the eye, her malice gleaming stronger than ever. “What do you think? I could set up a test for you using this. Would that entertain you?” 

Max just glared. The suddenly heavy pulse in his chest kept his mouth shut, weighing down his wish to curse at the scientist in front of him.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Isaac,” she said, turning to her watch once more. “Could you set up the first course for me?”

At that, the panels nearest to the wall began to move, raising up and stopping at different heights. Max looked around him, finding the clear starting point next to Wynslow at ground level. She stood once again on a high pillar, and called down to Max. “Begin when you’re ready!” She said, overly cheery.

Max looked over to Gwen, who looked concerned but said nothing. Both of the scientists watched as Max approached the starting tile, taking a deep breath before leaping onto the first platform.

It was a staircase where the steps varied in size, sometimes going down and sometimes going so high Max had to pull himself over the edge. The corners were tight with how fast he tried to move, having to stop himself on the wall before whipping around and sprinting again.

As he made his way around, he began to notice bigger drops when the panels would go down. He narrowly avoided stumbling as he leapt up a tall step, trying to continue with the same pace he had started with. 

Max heard the hissing of a moving panel as he moved, but was too focused on finishing to risk looking around and tripping. He stopped himself against another wall, making the last turn.

The panels weren’t exactly big, but the pattern of their formation was something he had gotten used to. That’s why he was so surprised when he realized the panel on front of the the one Wynslow stood on had disappeared, dropped all the way to the ground so far beneath him. The gap was probably only five feet long, but Max had realized there would be no ground to fall on too late.

It was a spur of the moment decision, but it was the only one Max could make. There was no time to stop, but just enough to slow down to the point that Max wouldn’t fall of the edge of the last panel if he leapt.

For one second, as the kid hung in the air, he could taste the fresh air in his memories. For one moment, he was back outside, listening to the sound of the morning as it sang to him.

It was the outside world he remembered for just one out of a million moments. And it called his name.

Max skidded to a stop next to Wynslow, pulling away from the edge of the pillar as fast as he could. Wynslow had turned to her clipboard once again, writing on the paper there as she calmly smiled. The kid turned to her.

“Jesus Christ, you could have killed me with that last jump! You know we’re more than thirty feet in the air, right?” He yelled, eyes blazing as he tried to catch his breath. The scientist didn’t react, her reply simple and sarcastic.

“I thought you’d get bored if I didn’t throw in something exciting.” She said, her pale blue eyes challenging Max’s.

The kid scanned Wynslow, looking the way her freckles bent with her malicious smile. For a moment, the two just stood there, trying to figure out the person in front of them.

“Right.” Wynslow mused, turning to her watch again. “Isaac, would you set up the second course?”

A muffled voice replied. “I’m not sure we have much more time.” The voice, presumably Isaac, replied.

“Just set up the course, sweetie.”

No one replied, the panels in the room setting up another course, more drastic with it’s variation in height. Max watched the room shift, watched Gwen watch it as well. She looked concerned, and the kid could tell something was wrong with the way she looked around the room.

“If you could, please just step to the platform next to you. It’ll bring you back down so you can head to the starting point.” Wynslow explained, looking at Max with her same smile, same malice.

Max looked away from the woman, stepping to the platform. It had been raised up from where it had been on the ground, and now reacted to Max’s step. It carefully moved down to the ground, letting Max move to the other side of Wynslow’s pillar.

“You can start whenever you’re ready.” She said. Max looked around the room, at the course that had been set up for him to run.

“No.” He asserted, looking up to Wynslow. She looked down on him, surprised to hear the way he refused so adamantly. She turned and spoke to Isaac, and her piller lowered down so she was level with Max.

“I think you misunderstand.” She said, her smile having faded and her southern accent becoming a dark and foreboding sound. “This isn’t an option. We need you to do this to make sure you’re healthy.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit!” Max accused. “I don’t need to run some stupid courses to prove that  _ I’m fine _ and you know it. Something is going on here, and I’m gonna figure out what it is!”

Wynslow glared at Max. If words were gasoline, the sparks of tension in the room would have burned down the entire building they were in. Though Gwen was still on the other side of the room, she could hear the whole conversation and feel it’s effects.

“I see.” Wynslow began as she walked toward the door on the other side of the room.. “I believe this training session is over. Gwen, could you please stay here with 4418? I need to talk with Aaron about it’s behaviour.”

“Yes, Ms. Castillo.” Gwen replied, watching the woman as she turned and left the room. Max trailed behind Wynslow quietly, not trying to follow her out but just making his way to where Gwen stood.

“My name is  _ Max. _ ” He aggressively reminded as the door closed behind Wynslow.

After a moment of the pink-haired scientist’s absence, Gwen turned to Max. “Nice going, asshat.”

“What?” Max asked, looking up at the woman. “You said to be myself! And ‘myself’ hates the honestly abusive southern bitch that’s apparently in charge of training me! What am I even being trained for?”

Gwen didn’t reply, just looked over Max as she thought.

“Hello?” Max hollered to Gwen, eyebrows furrowed as he frowned.

“Sorry,” Gwen said suddenly, shaking her head. “You’re the strangest God damned ten-year-old I’ve ever seen.”

Max sighed in response. He honestly hadn’t known he was ten, and it occurred to him he didn’t know much about himself at all. Maybe that’s what had motivated him to make that promise, to find out what was going on.

“Gwen, are you there?” A muffled voice called out from Gwen’s watch. Gwen jumped at the sound, and rushed to pull up her sleeve to reply. 

“Yes, is that you, Aaron?” She asked.

“Yep. Could you please take 4418 to room S-3, please? You may then return to your scheduled obligations.” Aaron said from the other side before cutting out. Gwen sighed, a pang of sadness in her chest as she looked back to Max.

The kid had been listening, and just looked away from Gwen. She opened her mouth to speak, but the kid got the opportunity first. “Let’s just get this over with.” He said as he walked towards the door.

Gwen led the kid through the white hallways, not saying a word until they reached a new door. It was the third in a row of doors that did not blend with the wall, but was clearly outlined with a frame. When it opened, it slid to the side, into the wall where it fit easily.

“You won’t be going to Meeting Time tomorrow. We’ll bring you back to your room after training.” Gwen said.

The room wasn’t much worse than the one Max had already been staying in. It was much smaller, the size of a closet and with not even a sad excuse for a bed. “So that’s my punishment? I get a smaller room and no bed for day because I didn’t want to do some stupid, useless training courses?”

Gwen spoke seriously in reply. “It could be worse. Last kid who got sent down here was told to stay for three days. He’s getting out tomorrow.” Max remembered David telling him about the kid who tried to escape, and as he walked into the room, he felt a quick jolt of anxiety in his chest. “Anyways, I should go now. Remember, we still have someone observing you, so if anything happens, we’ll know.”

Max grunted in response, sitting down in a corner as Gwen turned to leave.

“And before I go,” She started, looking over her shoulder. “Were you serious? About finding out what’s going on here?”

Max scanned her again, still searching for the selfish intent he had seen in Wynslow. But Gwen had none of that, her lilac eyes asking honestly,  _ is this really your plan? _

“Yeah.” Max confirmed with conviction.

“Then I hope you find what you’re looking for, Max.”

At that, she left the room, the door sliding and sealing shut behind her, leaving Max with nothing but the rumbling of the vents high above his head and the beginnings of a plan.

 


	5. Clandestine

Aaron was an enigma to everyone but himself. He had the face of a child, fair with rosy cheeks and graced with a neatly trimmed beard that added age to his face. His eyes were a mirthful brown, full of light and hope and a wisdom that was only learned through experience and the knowledge of heartbreak. 

Aaron, despite what his coworkers and the people he worked with thought of him, was a man with lots of love in his heart. But it’s easy to make the wrong decisions when you’re scared, when you’ve learned so much about love and loss that you don’t want to lose it again.

As chief discipline officer at the Society of Neurological Health and Reformation, it was his job to make sure anyone who fell out of line — on accident or not — paid for it. There was a reason for everything he did, and everything did not do.

He knew that the subjects had been naming themselves, and he did nothing.

He knew that one subject in particular had remembered, and he did nothing.

He knew what was about to become of Cameron Campbell’s empire, and he did nothing.

At some point it occurred to him that maybe he kept too many secrets. Maybe part of him believed that, if he kept it quiet enough, he could slip away from the situation without ever having to be held accountable for it. Maybe he thought, if worse came to worst, he could cut his losses and ties and escape without anyone he cared for getting hurt.

But secrets need someone to keep them. Just because you keep a secret doesn’t mean no one else was involved, or that you never formed any ties with them, too.

He hated looking at the file that was in front of him, and still he did. It was a very sparse folder, only a few pages of information all labelled under the messily written number of ‘3675’. He hated knowing that all of the information in there was true.

_ Extremely volatile and dangerous — do not make physical contact. Do not release. _

No one deserved this, he knew. But he had a job to do, and the pay for doing it right was the most important thing to him.

 

They had to make modifications to it’s room. Cameras were hidden in every corner, keeping a constant watch and ready to set off alarms if anything happened. The white walls had been singed, dark marks staining the small room’s white walls like scars. A speaker was hidden in the ceiling, where the flames had not yet been able to reach.

A child sat in the corner, his white outfit looking out of place on him. He had always hated the old shirt, but every time he tried to change it into something more fitting, he was told to change it back. Coffee colored strands of hair framed his ivory face, falling into his golden-green eyes before he brushed them back.

“Good morning, 3675.” Aaron’s voice called over the speaker, a comforting tone to the kid.

He looked up from his spot on the floor, smiling as he heard the scientist talk to him. “Aaron!” He beamed. “I’m glad you’re calling today.” 

Aaron chuckled, glad to see the kid so excited. “I hope Isaac treated you well. What did you guys talk about?” He already knew, but it was good to hear it from the kid’s perspective.

“He asked me about you, and what we usually talk about. He seemed really confused about something, and not good at talking to people.” His voice was accented with his Israeli heritage and a small smile. “He was really funny.”

Aaron hummed. “That’s good. Isaac is a very good friend of mine, I thought you’d like him. It’s good for you to hear from new people every once in a while.”

“It was fun!” The kid said joyously. 

Aaron often wondered how he could remain so happy in his contained unit. 3675 was different from the other patients here —  _ volatile and dangerous. _ He was not taken out for training like the others, did not go to the Meeting Time with everyone else for the fear that he would hurt them. He was fed when he was asleep, Aaron very carefully opening the door to put in a box of his rations before having to leave hastily. This, Aaron talking through the speaker in the room and listening without ever being able to be face to face with him, was all of the socialization 3675 got.

Aaron hated everything about it. He hated calling him a patient; the kid was a test subject at best, and a prisoner at worst. He hated that he was just another number, just another nameless test subject here.

He hated that, at one time, Aaron had followed Campbell’s order of calling the kid an ‘it’. 

“Aaron?” The kid asked, sounding cautious.

“Sorry, I was daydreaming. Did you say something?” 

“No, I was just wondering…” He trailed off, thinking for a moment to phrase the thought. “You work here, right?”

Aaron’s heart sunk into his stomach, anxiety bubbling up. The kid had never asked anything as to why he was trapped here, and Aaron wasn’t quite sure if he would be able to respond if he did. 

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Well,” The kid began. “I just figure you have time off eventually, and you get to see the outside. What’s it like?” 

Aaron thought for a long time. Kids always made the simplest questions sound so thought provoking, specially for someone who had seen so much from the outside world. It’s strange how our experiences shape our view of the world, how simple questions can highlight points of our lives. Aaron had not cared much for the world he lived in before it was destroyed, and now that he was here, he regretted it immensely.

Maybe that’s why he cared about so much now. Maybe if he cared enough, he would be able to save it this time.

“It’s nice.” He lied through his teeth. Nice as it was, it was not anymore. “I would try to describe it to you, but that’s just too difficult. I hope you get to see it someday.” At least it wasn’t all a lie.

“Thanks, Aaron.” The kid said, smiling.

The scientist looked at the small, blinking button next to him. It was still transmitting the audio from this conversation to Campbell, and Aaron hated that too. Quietly, he pressed the button, watching it shut off before he spoke. “3675, would you like to have a name?”

The kid looked up at the speaker, wishing he could see Aaron in person when he spoke. “Really?” He said, trying to keep his excitement in his chest. It wasn’t long before he felt sparks in the air surrounding his hands.  _ Volatile and dangerous. _ He sighed out the energy, feeling the smoke on the air.

“Well, 3675 is quite the mouthful. I figured you’d like something a bit easier.” Aaron explained. “Do you have something in mind that you’d like to be called?”

The kid shrugged. “I haven’t thought about it before.” He admitted.

“How about Harrison?” Aaron offered, not missing a beat.

The kid smiled. “I like it!” He exclaimed happily. “Why did you pick that one?”

Aaron thought for a moment. “It… Was the name of someone close to me. I think it fits you.” He smiled, it being a strange look on his face as he recalled the bitter memories before letting them fall away. For a moment, he thought he could treat his past like water on a duck’s back, letting it leave him to fall to the depths while he went somewhere new.

It’s never that simple, though.

“Thanks, Aaron. For everything.” Harrison said.

“You’re welcome.” Aaron replied before turning the transmitting device back on. “I need to get going now, but you make sure to behave yourself. I’ll talk to you again tomorrow.”

“Okay!” Harrison said cheerly. “Thank you again!”

With that, Aaron turned off his microphone and turned off the transmitting device, a deep sense of anticipation in him as he stood up to leave his room. He crossed the threshold that led from his white office to the white hallway and closed the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized way too late that I forgot to post this chapter! I am so so sorry, everyone!


	6. Act II - Ennui

When he woke up on the lumpy sack of cotton he had been been calling a bed, he already felt the unease in the stagnant air. His eyes had not yet even opened, the lights not even having been brightened to show that the day was beginning, and still he felt the sense of disquietness that hung thick in the air.

He did not consciously understand the sparks in the stale air as a sense of foreshadowing, but his body felt it still. 

David’s eyes fluttered open, and as they did, the lights in the room became brighter. He squinted in the light and sat up, stretching the last remnants of sleep from his body quickly. The air felt heavy in his lungs as he breathed deeply, adjusting to the day.

It was strange to him, trying to remember something other than this facility. He could feel his memories buried somewhere in his psyche, just as he could feel the foreboding air in his body, but he could not recall them. The curiosity of who he used to be tortured him.

He looked up towards the bright lights, looking at the veil high above him. A singular shape moved, watching him briefly before walking away to observe someone else, somewhere else.

He had to admit, he was curious what they had been writing about him. He had been here for quite a long time — for a longer time than most did. He had seen those who woke up after him leave, seen people he had grown close with disappear into the Outside.

And, despite how badly he wished to leave this place, he had been avoiding it. Training had gone from physical assessments to mental assessments to discussions with the scientists in charge of the facility, explaining what he would do when he left. And every time, he would say that he didn’t quite feel ready, explain that he had a stomach ache last night and maybe he wasn’t ready to leave quite yet.

But at further thought, he realized that he wanted to make sure that the kids here were safe. He had been the only adult patient in quite a long time, and even he with all of his age had been panicked when he woke up here, alone and confused.

Even the worst of situations can become normal when you’ve lived them long enough.

David stood up in the white room, trying to find something in it to appreciate. For so long now, he had been putting all of his energy into imagining this place as something good, as a place he belonged. He had put so much energy into imagining this as something it was not, trying to turn this prison into paradise. His energy was beginning to drain.

His mind began to wander as he began to walk the edges of the room, finding something for his feet to do while he waited for the doors to open for Meeting Time. The building was empty, nothing breaking the silence except for his shoes tapping the bland white floors, a clap of thunder in contrast to the stark silence he’d been living in.

It roared overhead, growing restless.

It was not the only one.

 

The air rumbled as the hydraulics hissed, opening his door. The stale air began to move, creating a false sense of ventilation. It would not clear out the uneasy feeling in the air, but David pressed forward with his usual smile, regardless.

Before he could even look around, a kid ran as fast as they could to David’s leg, latching on as they almost brought both of them down. “David!” The kid exclaimed, his nasally voice sounding almost teary.

“Space Kid!” David responded, sitting on the ground to put his hands on the kid’s shoulders and examine him. Anxiety ran through him as he began to ramble. “Are you okay? I thought you got out, what happened? Did they hurt you?” David looked at the young kid, trying to find any proof of injury.

Instead, he found the dreams of a young kid, reflected in his dark drown irises. He found a thousand stars, an entire universe he might never see. He found a million different forgotten memories, left in the forests and under every tree and every leaf.

And just like those memories, they faded, replaced with tears. The kid began to sniffle, and looked away from David as he rubbed his nose.

“I’m fine, it was just lonely…” He trailed off. David put a hand on Space Kid’s hair, feeling the brown curls to confirm that the kid was still there.

“What happened?” He asked in a comforting tone. At this point, the other kids had noticed their friend’s reappearance, and were gathering around.

“I got out, but somebody saw me and they chased after me, and eventually they found me and said that I needed to be punished for running away, so they put me in somnitude confident.” He said tearfully.

“Solitary confinement,” David said, figuring out the words aloud. “How long were you there? You’ve been gone four days, you can’t have…” He trailed off, feeling anger bubble up at the surface of his tongue. Instead, he bit on it, putting on a face of comfort instead.

“A lot? I think it was three.” Space Kid sniffled, and David pulled him in for a hug. He whispered words of comfort, small phrases to assure the small dreamer that he was okay now, and he would make sure it stayed that way.

All of the kids around him sat down, all wishing to offer comfort to their friend but none knowing how. They simply had to hope their presence was comfort enough for this moment.

David had noticed Max was not here, and while he did not know the reason for it, he was certain it was not a good one. Max’s demeanor had seemed to be the type Wynslow would not tolerate, and that scared David. As Space Kid’s sniffles and occasional sobs turned to hiccups, he looked around the room more often. Seeing Space Kid in one piece had quelled his anxiety, albeit momentarily; Max’s absence sent it flaring up again, a fire licking his chest and leaving trails of sour smoke when it began to tame itself.

Space Kid pulled away slightly, and David let him be. “Thank you.” The kid said, and David smiled.

“Of course. Are you alright?” He asked. Space Kid nodded, his lips tight as he rubbed his eye.

“Hey, kiddo,” The blonde teenager kneeled down to his level, her stormy eyes trying offer comfort. “How ‘bout a piggyback ride?”

The kid bounced back, his face still red and blotchy from tears but now painted with a smile. “Really? Oh, thank you!” The teenager turned around and let Space Kid hop on her back. 

“Thank you, Meredith.” David said genuinely as the teenager hoisted the kid up. She nodded and started running around, Space Kid making whooshing sounds as they did.

The mood quickly changed back to a happier one, Nerris leaping up to play with Space Kid and Meredith.

A short green-haired girl tugged on David’s sleeve, and he looked over. “Where’s the new kid?” She asked.

“Oh! Well, you see, Nikki…” He trailed off, trying to create an answer that wouldn’t worry people. He had no idea, and it made him nervous. What could he have possibly done in the one day he was awake?

“Yeah, he kind of just disappeared, didn’t he?” The kid behind Nikki asked, a tall and lanky kid with his hands held near his chest.

David sighed. Neil was a smart kid, and wouldn’t take his excuses. “Yeah. I honestly don’t know where he is.” He knew that if it was anything like the place Space Kid had been taken to, it was bad news. After seeing the after-effects of it, David didn’t want another one of his kids to feel so abandoned. 

But he couldn’t put himself in danger. He had to be there for the kids.

“So what are we gonna do?” Nikki asked.

“What do you mean?” David already made up his mind about not going and pushed the thought away.

“We can’t just let whatever happened to Space Kid happen again!” Neil asserted. “Especially not with someone who’s only been here for a day.”

David hesitated. He was right — a spirit like Max’s would burn out if they didn’t do something to help, and soon. Before Aaron was put in charge of punishments, Wynslow would push for whatever she could get away with. Now she simply tried to convince her supervisor to go with the worst thing she could manage with him.

Her punishments were never fair, and letting Max think he would be alone in having to survive them just might destroy him.

Getting Space Kid out of the building was never his plan, and he hadn’t wanted to help. The kids had found a flaw on the door that led away from their rooms, and expanded it to the point where if they dug their fingers in, they could pull it open. They were lucky it was one of the only doors in the building that didn’t function on hydraulics.

They couldn’t pull it open on their own, though. For that, they needed David, and he was reluctant. He knew that if any of the kids got caught, they would be in trouble, and he didn’t want to be the reason that happened.

But the breath of the forest ran through him, green and earthy on his tongue. 

 

He’d helped pry the door open, and Space Kid bolted. That was the last they’d seen of him until now.

Guilt still hung heavy in his chest, knowing he could have prevented the three days he sat alone in the white room. He wouldn’t let that happen again, to anyone other than himself.

Not to Space Kid.

Not to Max.

Not to any of his kids.

Meredith and Nikki pulled one side of the door, while David helped Nerris pull out the other side. It resisted, held together by an unseen heaviness as it begged not to be opened. 

As the opening got wide enough for David to fit through, he spoke. “Everyone, stay here. I’ll be back soon, okay?”

The kids agreed, and David knew that if Space Kid hadn’t returned in the state he was in, they wouldn’t have.

David made his way outside of the Meeting Room, and from it, he heard Space kid say one last thing.

“Please don’t get caught.”

 

The hallways were eerily quiet, stark white just like the rest of the building. It made it too easy to get lost, especially considering the fact that David had no clue where he was going. He knew Max had probably been sent to solitary confinement, but he had never been there himself.

As he wandered the hallways, he began to think that maybe he should have thought this through. Maybe he’d been too quick to help, and maybe Max would be back by tomorrow. Maybe he had just been scared by Space Kid’s sudden and distraught appearance, and now he was overreacting.

“Hey.” He heard a voice from somewhere behind him, a whisper in the silence of the facility. He turned, looking for the source but finding the still empty hall.

David’s stomach churned, and he turned back around, continuing to roam. He was sure he could find the solitary confinement rooms soon enough, with just enough time and searching through memory.

Like that had worked before.

“Hey!” The voice was louder now, angrier, and David’s heart kicked into overdrive. He started running as fast as he could, turning down a hallway and hoping that the person trying to catch him wouldn’t follow.

He skidded to a stop, seeing someone else standing in the hallway already, turning around before he could even see their face.  _ Different hall, _ he said to himself, panicking as he hurtled himself into a new hall.

He had only ever gotten in trouble here once, for a very minor thing. This, he knew, was major. He didn’t want to imagine what Wynslow would put him through if he were caught. If he could escape, she would have no proof other than her word, and David knew that people wouldn’t believe her.

It made him desperate. It made his feet move all the faster, made his movements more desperate as he ducked out of hallways with people in them. 

He began to realize he was probably running away from where he was trying to go, and as he did, he got more and more frustrated. With himself and his lack of energy, with the people searching for him, desperate to find Max or just know that he’ll be okay.

He slowed to a stop, panting and trying to catch his breath.

Footsteps came from the hallway ahead of him, and he held his breath, his chest aching from all of his running. He had nowhere left to go.

The person ahead of him turned the corner, and made eye contact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you got the notification that another chapter was posted and it led to one you've already read, I'm sorry! I forgot to post the previous chapter, and only just posted it now. Again, my apologies!


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